midterm blues
by CalaveraCandiedSkull
Summary: They tried to study, they really did. But Lucy is distracting, and so is her extensive DVD collection. - nalu, for moon strut


For **moon strut**, whose fics often make me laugh so hard I fall out of my chair, and loves NaLu just as much as I do.

-A whole lot of chick flicks and romcoms are mentioned and referenced in this, so if your knowledge of them is limited then you may find less enjoyment from this (and I pity your soul.)

-I wish I edited my stuff.

* * *

He knocks on the door a good ten times in succession before she swings it open, with hair pulled back into a messy bun, wearing an oversized sweater and leggings and topping the look off with pen smeared across her face.

"Natsu," she growls, the annoyance clear on her pretty face. Well, not so pretty with those massive bags underneath, but it's not like he'll ever tell her she looks beautiful after a good night's sleep. "What do you want?"

"I need help," he states, holding out his school binder. A loose leaf of paper flutters out, and she picks it up with distaste. "And I knew you'd be studying so I came to beg for your assistance."

She rolls her eyes in a massive arc, leaning on the doorframe. "Please, for the love of all that is good in the world, do not tell me that you saved studying for the last day before the midterm."

He offers up an apologetic grin in response. Lucy huffs, holding the door open and allowing him to step inside. He does so with great gusto. "Thank you."

"I hate you."

But there is no venom in her voice as he merrily follows her down the hall into the den, where her couch is covered in paper and pencils and books; some he recognizes from the class and some he recognizes from her own personal collection. She falls back into her spot, crossing her legs under her with practiced ease and flipping the book back open.

But what he notices most of all is the large TV that's sitting on the wall of the den. Not that that is anything unusual (her dad is rich and spoils her rotten in what he claims is a way to make up for being a crappy dad in grade school). No, what gets his attention is the fact that the TV is on, and more importantly, it's playing something.

"I thought you were studying," he points out, chin gesturing to the flatscreen. She glances up and catches sight of the frozen frame, cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

"I can multitask," she says defensively.

Raising eyebrows, Natsu plops himself down next to her. Paper crunches under him, and she glares and kicks him. Relenting, he leans over and pulls out the crumpled sheet.

"_Themes in Shakespeare's Hamlet_," he reads aloud. "That's boring, Luce."

"That's going to be on the test," she retorts, snatching it from his grip. "And you'd do well to remember it."

"What's the test going to be on, again?" He asks. She looks miffed.

"Why are you even taking this course?"

_Because I knew you'd be in it_. "Because I need it for my program."

Lucy ignores him, something she's quite adept at doing, and pulls the remote from where it has fallen between two couch cushions. She hits the play button and allows the sounds of cheesy pop music and bad acting to fill the room.

Natsu groans. "Great. Now how am I supposed to study?"

"Hey, you chose to come here," she reminds him. "That means you have to deal with my studying methods."

"Your studying methods include watching shitty movies?"

"It's Nicholas Sparks! And _shh_!"

Huffing, Natsu settles down to watch the movie. It's one he's seen before, but he can't put his finger on it – or maybe it's that all these movies look the same to him: sappy and unrealistic.

He realizes he's voiced this sentiment out loud, and Lucy is glaring at him with eyes burning like coals. He shrinks back, hands held up in surrender. "Er, sorry."

"Well, this isn't his best one, anyway," she says grudgingly. "So I'll give you that. But!" And at this she becomes quite impassioned, jumping up onto her feet and brandishing the remote at him like a sword. "There are some movies based on his books that stand above all else!"

"Like what?"

"The Notebook!"

"Seen it," Natsu scoffs. He hasn't, but he doesn't want to watch it; he knows the second he says he hasn't Lucy will tie him to a chair and tape his eyes open.

Now she hops down from the couch, tapping her chin and twirling the remote between her fingers. For these few blessed seconds, her eyes are not on him, and he's free to stare at her all he likes.

Natsu has known Lucy Heartfilia for exactly four years and seven months, now. They met on the first day of high school. It had been interesting enough, to say the least. Some creepy senior was hitting on Lucy, and she had been trying to ward him off in that shy freshman-voice she had. Natsu had beaten the carp out of him, and although he did get in huge trouble with both the school board and his dad, at least Lucy took him out to lunch the next day.

Natsu has also been in love with Lucy for exactly four years and seven months, but he will never tell her that. Never, ever, ever, ever, or however many evers Taylor Swift could fit into her song.

She's currently opened her cupboard that contains nothing but DVD's and old VHS tapes, leaning over to search the shelves. It gives him a nice view, and he can definitely appreciate that Lucy is so gorgeous she can even rock the sweater-and-leggings look. She pulls something off, spinning around triumphantly.

"All right!" She declares. "Not only is this going to change your mind about chick flicks, but it'll help us study as well."

"Is it Nicholas Sparks?"

"No." She pops it in, and then meanders over to the couch to sit comfortably beside him. "It's called 'Letters to Juliet'."

Natsu's never heard of it, and voices this. Lucy makes an offended face. "It's the last film Gary Winick ever directed!"

"Who?"

"Ugh!" She throws her arms up. "'13 Going On 30'? 'Bride Wars'? Hello?" At his blank stare, she smacks his thigh (and it kind of hurts, she can pack a punch.) "All right, fine, we'll watch those after."

So they start watching Letters to Juliet. Natsu has to admit, he doesn't like it much. The only reason he stays out for so long is because Lucy's leg is somewhat touching his, and he does not want to lose that contact.

"Her fiancée's a dick," he points out fifteen minutes in. Lucy shushes him.

"That's the point," she hisses. When he asks why on Earth that is a point, she covers his mouth with her hand and he shuts up instantly.

But as the movie progresses, he finds himself actually becoming intrigued by the plot. Not the main two characters, oh no. They drive him crazy, they are just like any other two main characters – oh, they argue, but oh, they have so much chemistry, but oh, she's engaged, wah wah _wah._

No, it's the other characters that have him so entranced. A sixty-something year old woman who left behind the love of her life fifty years ago, is now on a quest across Italy to find him again. They've reached the point in the movie where the woman – Claire, her name is – is reunited with her love, Lorenzo. He'll never admit it to Lucy, but he actually feels a little touched.

Then some more boring stuff with the main two characters. Oh, but then Claire and Lorenzo got married, and Lucy had a giant grin plastered on her face. She sighed dreamily as they read some letter out loud (oh, that was probably why it was called Letters to Juliet, hah) and said, almost to herself, "I wish I could write like that."

This gets Natsu's attention. He knows she wants to be a writer, hence all the English courses she's taking. But he doesn't know what she actually wants to write, and so he starts tuning in to what they actually say because maybe it'll get him some brownie points later on.

_"I don't know how your story ended. But I know that if what you felt then was love - true love – then it's never too late. If it was true then, why wouldn't it be true now? You need only the courage to follow your heart. I don't know what a love like that feels like, a love to leave loved ones for, a love to cross oceans for... but I'd like to believe if I ever felt it, I'd have the courage to seize it. I hope you had the courage to seize it, Claire. And if you didn't, I hope one day that you will."_

...all right, he'll admit it. He's touched.

But then it's back to the sappy main plot and he's bored again by the end (although the bit about the guy climbing the balcony and falling off was funny) and he's so relieved when it ends. Lucy turns to him, beaming.

"So?" She asks. "Did I change your opinion?"

He refuses to answer. A few lyrics from the credits song (it's surprisingly not as cheesy or poppy as he expected) hit his ears. "_What if we were made for each other, born to become best friends and lovers..."_

Well, he's made it to best friends.

She notices his glazed eyes, and pouts. "Oh, come on. At least tell me you thought Lorenzo and Claire were cute."

He averts his eyes, putting extra emphasis in his voice. "_No_."

But he's lying through his teeth, and she can tell, and damn that self-satisfied smirk on her face. "Fine," she teases, "whatever you say, Pants-On-Fire. '13 Going On 30' is next."

She's not as lucky with this one. Part way through he realizes that the male lead is played by The Hulk, and can't stop laughing long enough to focus. Finally Lucy concedes, and they leave it on in the background as they study.

"So," she says. "Who is the author this test is on?"

"William Shakespeare." It's literally a class about studying famous authors. Really, how many bullshit classes can a college come up with? He can't believe some of the courses Lucy's taking, and she's taking six of them. And she has to write for all of them. He's pretty sure if he tried that his brain would melt, and he admires her all the more for keeping up her GPA.

"Okay, and what can you tell me about him?"

"Uh, he was a writer?"

Lucy reaches over and smacks him (again, goddamnit, what is it with this woman?) "Natsu! At least tell me you know where he was born."

_Thriller_ starts playing on the screen. Natsu suddenly fights every urge to get up and dance. "...London?"

"Stratford-upon-Avon!"

"What kind of name is that?" Natsu complains. "Oh, but he was married to Anne Hathaway."

"Why is it that everyone can always remember that?" Lucy slides down on the couch until she's practically folded in to herself. "She wasn't his true love anyway."

He only half-hears; _Thriller_ is still playing and damn him if he doesn't love that song. "Hm?"

She blushes prettily. Alright, now he's paying attention. "Nothing."

They keep talking about Shakespeare until the movie ends. They sky is dark outside, it must be nearly midnight. Natsu's glad he told his dad he'd most likely be crashing at Lucy's (but then again, he did that so often that Igneel had stopped waiting for him to come home anyways.) Lucy's now determined to show Natsu the power of romcoms.

"No, not another one," he groans. She plants her hands on her hips from where she stands in front of her cabinet (like captain of the shelves.) "Please, I can't take it."

"Well, what do you like then?" Lucy asks. "What do you want to see in a movie other than explosions and fire?"

"Honestly?" Natsu shrugs. "Not a lot."

"Men!" Lucy throws her hands in the air. "Fine, what about crude humour?"

Well, that's got him perking up. "Crude what?'

She's holding a DVD case in her hands, eyes running over the cover critically. "I think you might actually find this funny," she says. "Cana recommended it; she said it was the best thing she'd seen in ages."

Cana, an old friend of theirs from high school, has similar tastes to Natsu in movies and so this has him agreeing to watch it. "Let's put the com in romcom!" He cheers. "What's it called?"

The opening credits answer for him, apparently it's called 'What's Your Number?'.

And oh hell. Cana was right.

Lucy is not so amused (sure, she giggles at parts, but nothing over the top) but Natsu thinks this is absolute genius. Never mind the fact that Captain America is the male lead, but he's such a funny character – one that, if Natsu was more of a ladies' man, he'd be identifying with completely.

By the end of it he's got tears rolling down his cheeks. "_You're number twenty, I'm still at twenty!"_ Ally declares, jumping up and down on the bed after a hilarious phone call. Lucy looks more amused by Natsu than the actual movie.

"You're telling me you don't like this?" He asks, pointing at the screen. "What is wrong with the universe?"

"No, I do like it," she argues mildly. "Just not as much as you do, apparently."

After that, they decide to do some real studying and Lucy (of course) puts in something else to play in the background. It's a bit older, called '10 Things I Hate About You,' and Lucy points out that it's based on a Shakespeare piece of work called 'The Taming of the Shrew.'

"Huh," Natsu says, and Lucy promises to show him 'She's the Man,' after, apparently another modern-day Shakespeare remake.

So they end up watching both, studying completely disregarded. At this point it's around 3:30, and neither of them feel the least bit tired.

"So – wait, I'm confused," Natsu frowns. "I thought Duke liked Olivia. And I thought Olivia liked dude-Viola! Not her brother!"

Lucy giggles. (She's so cute when she giggles, it's like kittens and puppies and sparkles and he has to punch a wall to feel manly again.) "Viola was pretending to be her brother! You remember when she found the song lyrics?"

"Oh, Sebastian wrote those?"

"Yeah! What, you didn't catch that?"

"No." Natsu's petulance is showing through. This is driving him crazy, and what's even worse is he actually finds himself interested in these stories. It's Shakespeare, for God's sake. "But that still doesn't tell me why she went out with the real Sebastian in the end."

"Because she found out that he was the one who wrote the song, and the main reason she started liking Viola was because she thought she wrote the song!"

"Argh, this movie is confusing!" Natsu shouts, pulling at his hair. He's glad the den door is closed, otherwise they'd have woken Jude up and that would have been a problem for all. Lucy does nothing but laugh at him.

The clock hits 4:00, and Natsu groans. "What time is the midterm at?"

"8:00," Lucy replies glumly. "Which means we need to leave in three hours."

Natsu groans, and flops forward on the couch. His face hits the pillow beside Lucy's thigh. "I don't wanna go," he complains, voice muffled into the fabric.

Something warm and soft begins to stroke Natsu's hair, and he realizes with a start that it's Lucy's hand (and that it's taking all his willpower not to purr like Happy would.) She's doing it almost absent-mindedly, gently weaving her fingers through the pink strands. "I don't want to either," she agrees quietly.

"And I'm not sleepy," he adds, not caring if he sounds like a child. (He can't focus on being mature when she's doing that.) "I don't wanna go to bed."

Lucy is silent for several minutes, and he almost thinks she's fallen asleep. Then she speaks. "How about," she begins, "we pull an all-nighter, and after the test you come back here and we can crash. Sound like a plan?"

It's enough to raise his head from the pillow. "Really?"

She smiles. "Of course! Besides, we can fit one more movie in before it' time to go, at least."

He grins back at her. "Shakespeare-themed?"

"You read my mind!"

They begin by scouring her shelves, looking for anything even remotely related to Shakespeare. Natsu finds a few creepy, dark films and suddenly he can't wait for their class to cover Edgar Allen Poe so they can do this all over again.

He finds a DVD cover that catches his eye, and pulls it off the shelf. "Hey, what about this one? Shakespeare's in the title."

"Which one?" She pops her head up from where it was stuck behind a desk. Her eyes focus on the cover, and an interesting reaction happens: the colour drains from her face at the same time it floods it, leaving her simultaneously very pale and very glowing red.

"Um," she says in a shaking voice. "W-we don't have to watch that one. It's really long."

"So we'll have just enough time to finish it and then leave!" Natsu didn't see what the problem was. "Do you hate this movie or something?"

"No!" Suddenly she's very defensive. "I love it, it's one of my favourites!"

"Then what's the problem?" Natsu demands. Now he really wants to see it (any movie that can get a reaction like that out of Lucy is definitely one he wants to see.)

She takes a deep, shuddering breath. "All right, fine, fine. You'll probably fall asleep anyway."

"No, I won't."

"Yes, you will!"

So he puts in the DVD, and lets it load. Lucy sits on the far, far side of the couch, as far away from Natsu as possible. He gives her a look; she so weird. He can't see what can possibly be so awful about _Shakespeare in Love._

...oh.

Natsu gulps heavily, not entirely sure what to do with his eyes. Part on his wants to look at a wall, and maybe take a cold shower. Part of him wants to keep watching the explicit content sex-scene, and yet another part wants to look over at Lucy. (A very large part.) The part that wants to keep watching the movie wins, however, because he is transfixed by this woman and her cascading mane of golden curls.

And then, without any warning, his mind suddenly fills with images, the kind that would get him kicked out of school. Images that seem very much like the ones happening on screen, only instead of Will and Viola it's Natsu and Lucy and his brain has just about short-circuited.

The room is deathly silent after the scene is done (although perhaps the silence is better than wanton, breathy moans.) Natsu sneaks a glance over at Lucy, and is somewhat amused to find her sitting in a position very similar to his – legs cross tightly, pillow over her stomach, arms over the pillow-like a fluffy body shield. He's doing the same thing (although he's hiding his body for somewhat different reasons from hers.)

Then her eyes dart over to him, and for a second their gazes connect. Fire shoots through his veins and he snaps his head away staring resolutely at the screen (and the sound of her hair swishing tells him she does the exact same thing.) But she's doing it for embarrassment, he reasons, not because she wants to jump his bones like he so desperately wants to jump hers.

The movie continues, neither of them daring to breathe.

For the most part, Natsu think that was why she didn't want to watch the movie. But as it draws to a close, a sound reaches his ears and he realizes with a start that there is another reason.

Really, it's sad. But sad enough to make her cry?

"Lucy?" He dares to ask, and she sniffles, turning her head away. "Hey, what's up?"

"Sh-shut up," she squeaks. Her eyes gravitate to the screen (_"My story starts at sea,"_ Will begins) and she lets out a sob. Natsu starts.

"O-oi, Luce!" He nearly flies across the side of the couch. Hands hover over her arms, because he wants nothing more than to pull her into his arm but hesitates.

"It's fine," she says thickly, wiping at her eyes. "This is just...it's my general r-reaction to this..."

She goes silent as the last line of the movie is uttered.

"_For she is my heroine for all time, and her name will be Viola_."

Lucy lets out a strangled gasp, and the tears overflow from her eyes as she turns to Natsu and starts crying into his chest. It takes him a second to react, but then his arms snake around her shuddering form, and when she doesn't throw him off he pulls even tighter.

He holds her all through the credits, until there's nothing left but the DVD player screen. He holds her until the sobs subside, and she slowly draws out of his embrace. Her face is red and puffy (but he doesn't comment on that, because it will earn him another smack.)

"Sorry." Lucy wipes frantically at her eyes. "Usually I only have my own pillow to do that into."

Natsu feels the corners of his mouth quirk up, just a bit. "Does this happen every time you watch this movie?"

"Pretty much." She laughs then. "You should see what happens when I watch 'Titanic'."

He laughs back, and before he's even fully realized what he's doing, reaches out a hand to stroke her cheek, smoothing away a stray tear with his thumb. It's like time almost starts standing still (he thought that was only a metaphor, but no, apparently it can actually happen) and for a moment the world has shrunk to just the two of them. There is nothing else but Lucy, her tear-stained face, and his hand on her cheek.

It doesn't take a lot of unconscious demands for his brain to malfunction and body to take over, as he leans forward and kisses her.

But what's more amazing (more amazing than finally kissing Lucy? Impossible!) is that she _doesn't pull away_. In fact, she leans into it and kisses him right back, cold hands curling around the back of his neck.

It could quite possibly have been several years later when they pulled apart (well, at least they wouldn't have to worry about the test.) All Natsu can focus on is how his lips are buzzing. He catches Lucy's eye, as she stares up at him. Her hands are still around his neck, which is probably a good thing.

"Um," he gulps. "Hi."

"Hi," she says back, smiling shyly.

They don't say much else, and it occurs to Natsu that maybe they don't actually need to say anything. Maybe they already know each other well enough, and maybe this isn't really much of a big deal. Maybe it's just the next step on the natural course of their odd but perfect relationship.

"We should get going," Lucy says finally, breaking the silence. "That test isn't going to wait for us."

Natsu curses inwardly. _Fucking cockblocking midterm_.

* * *

He stumbles out of the test room to see Lucy waiting for him. She'd finished about an hour and a half ago. He'd had to stay in until the professor pulled the paper out from under him. At least he'd gotten every question answered, but for Lucy to actually wait for him is nearly beyond his comprehension.

"How'd you do?" She asks, not commenting on the fact that he's gaping like a fish. Natsu closes his mouth with a snap.

"Good," he says. "I think."

"Good." She links her arm through his, and they stroll out of the college together. "Did you hear which author we're doing next?"

"No." Natsu furrows his brow. Apparently he'd really been concentrating on this exam. Lucy laughs at his expression.

"One of my favourites," she says brightly. "Jane Austen."

Natsu can't suppress a groan. He doesn't know much about Jane Austen, other than she is the queen of all chick-flicks. Lucy can only laugh at his misery, leading him back to her house. "Come on," she says teasingly. "Her stories are excellent! 'Pride & Prejudice' is the greatest love story ever told, and the movie is my absolute favourite!"

"Oh, yeah?" He challenges, and her eyes light up. (He wishes he could backtrack but it's too late.)

They sit in her den (rather, they slouch) and Natsu's arm is around Lucy's shoulder and she's leaning into his side. It's perfect and natural and he doesn't really have to think about it, which is a nice break from all the thinking he's been doing. The movie is only halfway through, and his eyes are closing, but there's something he needs to tell Lucy before he falls asleep.

Onscreen, Mr Darcy has appeared in the rain. With a slight grin, Natsu turns his head and looks down at the beautiful girl in his arms. "I love you," he says, repeating what Mr Darcy just said. Her face turns the most brilliant shade of pink, and his grin stretches wider as he adds, "most ardently."

Lucy doesn't even manage to reply. Instead, she launches forward and kisses him so hard they go tumbling off the couch and onto the floor in a tangle of limbs and blankets.

The movie is forgotten, but hey. There's always the next test.

* * *

I hate hate HATE midterms. Don't you?

Sorry this is so weak Gin I'll write you some more stuff later k? K. :D


End file.
